Texas Shooter Nails Target at 3650 Yards with .375 CheyTac

Report based on story by Vanessa Oler
Could your rifle hit a vehicle-sized target located 2.07 miles away (i.e. 3650 yards)? Well Billy Carter’s .375 CheyTac can. Last month, shooting at the NRA’s Whittington Center, Billy Carter hit a 12’x12′ target at the confirmed range of 2.07 miles. Carter was participating in the Whittington U Extreme Long Range III Course. Carter’s 3650-yard hits set a new Whittington U program record for long-distance shooting with a sub-50-caliber rifle. At that distance, 1 MOA is 38.22 inches! Edge to edge, a maximum 3.77 MOA-diameter circle would fit inside the 12′ x 12′ square target.

About the Rifle and Load
Carter’s M200 Intervention is chambered in .375 CheyTac. The beast weighs 31 pounds and measures 53″ overall, as fitted with 29″ barrel and muzzle brake. The optic is a Vortex Razor HD 5-20x56mm (MOA-click version). This First Focal Plane fat boy features a 35mm main tube. To reach out to 3650 yards, Carter was running a whopping 136.5 grains of Retumbo powder in his .375 CheyTac USA brass. That was ignited by Federal GM215M primers. All that Retumbo was pushing the CheyTac USA 350gr “Balanced Flight Trajectory” bullet, a custom copper-nickel-alloy projectile.

Hits on 12’x12′ target at 3650 yards (2.07 miles)Two-mile engagement at the Extreme Long Range III Course at the Whittington U on April 24, 2013.

How the 3650-yard Shot Was MadeCarter enrolled in a series of Long-Range Marksmanship courses under the guidance of Jon Weiler, a former U.S. Army Sniper. In 2011, the NRA selected Weiler to help launch the Whittington U long-range training program. Progressing through the long-range courses at Whittington U, Carter began to realize his .50 BMG and 338 Lapua were insufficient for the upcoming Extreme Long Range III Course — with targets increasing in difficulty from 750 yards to 3650 yards. Carter heard industry insiders hinting that Australian sniper teams were using a .375 CheyTac to shoot at 3000+ yards. So Carter called CheyTac USA and ordered a M200 Intervention in the .375 CheyTac chambering.

The first day of the Long Range III course, rifles were sighted-in at 500 yards and students engaged targets at 1200 yards. On Day 2 a cold front and driven snow made shooting near impossible. So, on the third and last day, Carter and the other students decided to go out as far as possible.

This range had four targets: 1890 yards, 2970 yards, 3040 yards, and 3650 yards. Carter figured he could skip the first two, but Weiler said “You have to build up to it”. Carter recounted, “I took 15-20 rounds to work my way up to the 3040 target. At that point you have to take a break. I pulled out my kestrels and started doing the math. My scope had no more vertical space, so I was forced to use five MOA at 3040, then calculate a full value 3 o’clock wind. Basically speaking, I was shooting out of my scope at that point. And hoping. ”

The first three shots, I wasn’t there and I knew it wasn’t going to work. But then I got close. The adrenaline started rushing and I couldn’t stop. I’m almost there, I thought.” Weiler, at the spotting scope, kept an even tone: “Same hold.” Carter shot again. Weiler let the excitement rise in his voice: “I can now say you’ve hit that 3650 target twice.”

Interview with Billy Carter

Carter is V.P. of Carter’s Shooting Center (CSC) in Houston, Texas. CSC is one of the largest private firearms retailers in the country.

“This was unreal. To think just a month before, I didn’t even know the velocity of my load! To pull off a two-mile hit was such a rush… it was dream come true.” Carter gave credit to Weiler: “John was an excellent instructor, designing the course to help you stairstep your way up to incredible distances. It wasn’t like you were just going to spend all day blindly shooting at some impossible target. He teaches you how to succeed at shooting long distance by starting with the basics — correct prone stance, trigger control, and rifle positioning.”

The shooter says: “I was shooting out of my scope at that point. And hoping. ”

Seems like the fact that he hit the target was much more luck than skill.

If you have a rifle that can launch projectiles 2 miles, chances are you can hit a target the size of a wall eventually… especially with someone spotting for you. Never stated how many shots were needed to get from 3040 to 3650.

Nice of you two jack-wagons to congratulate him on his accomplishment. If it were a dangerous situation, I doubt they would be doing it, but I guess you had to find something to bitch about. Also, he states the target is in the lower quadrant of his scope, and he hit it twice, so your comment about luck is invalid.

I am not certain if you gents have any actual experience shooting this distance or not. However to let you know this is across Coal Canyon at a diagonal. The compensation for wind, trajectory, mirage and other effects is difficult at best.

This is at the Whittington Center on a range that is on the west side of the Center that is closed to all with the exception of scheduled long range matches.

These gentlemen are in no danger of anyone going home with a hole in their posterior. This is an entirely safe way to conduct the shooting at this range and facility. What you are viewing is somewhat of an optical illusion. If you are shooting at a regular sanctioned match on the east coast with a straight line that is one thing. This is a long distance variable range target match. The engagements are in a multitude of directions to the front of the shooters.

They are not punching paper here but targets set up in various places different angles and distances on the range in the trees and hills much as you would find under field conditions.

Luck? Not on your life. Just a good shooter fantastic spotter and with great equipment and loads.

Does anyone know what the world record is for a .50 or below rifle shot (sniper rifle, but not sniper shot)? I know about Craig Harrison’s 2475m kills in Afghanistan. I’m referring to longest target shot.

If 2 miles is a par 3 for you, you might think it is luck.
We shoot “out of our scope” on a regular basis as a team exercise. As long as you have something to index any gradient of your reticle on (like a rock or the corner of a window)it is not necessary for the shooter to see the target. Very do-able without a spotter in some cases. The hang time on say, a .308 at one mile is roughly 4 sec. Plenty of time to get the scope on the target to see impact.

Congratulations! A great accomplishment for others to chase.
It is with disgust that I read negative comments and typically I ascribe that to someone who is negative in general or lacks competence and experience.
I am amazed and impressed. This speaks volumes to patience and dedication.

I bet they are shooting at near 8000 ft elevation. This GREATLY changes the velocity loss and bullet drop.
Google Earth and find the ranges SW of Raton then look at how high they are. The high ground has to be 7000 to 8000 to see as far as they do. Would be near impossible at sea level.
Great shooting and great spotting in any case.

To answer Mr. Hale’s question, myself & Skip Talbot shot the 50 BMG at 2 miles in 1998 in the Black Rock Desert in north Nevada. It was quite an experience for us and at the time we were just trying to answer two questions. Could the 50 BMG shoot at 2 miles? And, could it be reliable to consistently hit the target? We answered one question and yes, the 50 BMG can shoot reliably at 2 miles. The flight time of our projectiles were 7.3 seconds (800 gr Barnes bore rider)
The best consistency we achieved was 7 out of 10 rounds fired hitting the target, We were shooting five shot groups. We thought that was good, but that only occurred once over the 2 day period of shooting. Between us we probably fired 200 rounds in 2 days.
I’m impressed with the .375. I particularly like the platform because it looks like the “Windrunner” rifle Bill Ritchie designed from EDM Arms.
Again, very good shooting and I encourage anyone who thinks they would enjoy this to try it. It is a “Hoot”.